FARGO - Businesses are clamoring for welders, and a new course here aims to help.

The North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton has started a nine-month program in Fargo to train up to 20 students to handle sophisticated welding equipment.

"I would hire this whole class tomorrow," said Erik Olson, the general manager at the Case-New Holland tractor plant in Fargo.

Most of the students are from the area and plan to stay in the state after completing the program, said Barbara Bang, the dean of the technology and services division at Science.

Beau Tescher, a welding student who lives across the North Dakota border in Sidney, Mont., said it made sense to him to come to Fargo.

"I first heard about it on a TV commercial," Tescher said. "I thought that it would be a good career opportunity for me."

Case-New Holland employs about 150 welders at its Fargo plant. Much of the welding equipment is specific for Case parts, Olson said.

"We need people who know how to work on multimillion-dollar robotics," he said. "The normal day-to-day homegrown welder can't work for me."

Statistics from the National Association of Manufacturers list North Dakota as one of only two states that have shown an increase in manufacturing in the last five years, said Wayne Kutzer, director of the state Department of Career and Technical Education.

"Manufacturing in our state is growing, along with the demand for workers in that area," Kutzer said. "It's something that we really need to pay attention to."

The new program at Fargo's Skills and Technology Training Center, a division of the School of Science, is the only accredited college welding course in the area, Bang said. Students who want to receive two-year degrees can transfer to Wahpeton, she said.

"We might expand, but at this point we don't have plans to do it," said Bang. Three students went on a waiting list to enroll next August, she said.

The welding lab is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day, and is used by high school students, NDSU engineering students and workers who want more training.

"It's a top-quality facility," said James Lindberg, of Fargo, who is part of the inaugural class. "Everything they have here is more than I expected."

The cost of the program is about $6,500. It's supported by six different businesses or agencies.

"We've got a lot of partners in this project," Gov. John Hoeven said. "The way everybody's come together in this program and this partnership, is absolutely the way to do it."

Hoeven said the students who finish the program will have jobs waiting. Tescher, the Montana student, likes that idea.

"It's very comforting to know you can go out right away and find a job that you want and make good money," he said.